ASRM to support the “Endomarch 2014” on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
ASRM Bulletin
Volume 15, Number 33
October 16, 2013
ASRM TO SUPPORT THE “ENDOMARCH 2014” ON THE MALL IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Event Is Drawing Thousands of Women From Many Different U.S. and International Cities
The ASRM issued the following press release today.
For immediate release.
Contact: Sarah Sherwood, (650) 380-9102
Washington, DC—The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), one of the nation’s largest organizations dedicated to infertility, reproductive medicine and biology, announced today that it will co-sponsor and support the “Million Women March,” an internationally-coordinated awareness campaign that will begin with a march at the Washington Mall and in dozens of international capitals on Thursday, March 13, 2014.
“Women who suffer from endometriosis wait on average more than six years before receiving an accurate diagnosis – that’s why the American Society of Reproductive Medicine is an advocate for the Million Women March,” says Dr. Linda Giudice, President of ASRM, “so women and their families can better manage their health.”
Approximately 7,000 women worldwide have been involved in preparing for the event, which began on Facebook and whose numbers have been growing steadily since the campaign started about six months ago.
“There are many women of all ages, including young girls, who are suffering through the pain of endometriosis and other reproductive diseases, so we are asking the U.S. government to make sweeping changes in the way that they dedicate their resources to women’s health,” says Dr. Camran Nezhat, chair, AACF Stanford University School of Medicine, director, Center for Special Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery and Stanford clinical professor of OBGYN, who is leading the effort. “Diseases like endometriosis affect millions of women, yet there is no dedicated effort to inform women or girls in public institutions, and little is being done to educate primary doctors about how to diagnose effectively or to create awareness in general.”
The march will include awareness campaigns in Amsterdam, Belfast, Berlin, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Kingston, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Oslo, Reykjavik, Rome, Stockholm, Valleta, and Washington, D.C., with the largest gathering in the U.S. An estimated 176 million women and girls have endometriosis, according to World Endometriosis Research Foundation.
The Million Women March is a privately funded worldwide campaign to raise awareness and effect change for women suffering from endometriosis and other women’s diseases. It is funded by surgeons Camran Nezhat, Ceana Nezhat, Farr Nezhat and Azadeh Nezhat, as well as anonymous donors.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, founded in 1944, is an organization of more than 7,000 physicians, researchers, nurses, technicians and other professionals dedicated to advancing knowledge and expertise in reproductive biology. Affiliated societies include the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology, the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the Society of Reproductive Surgeons and the Society of Reproductive Biologists and Technologists. www.asrm.org